中国新年是中国最重要的传统节日，在中国也被称为春节。新年的庆祝活动从除夕开始一直延续到元宵节(the Lantern Festival)，即从农历(lunar calendar)最后一个月的最后一天至新年第一个月的第十五天。各地欢度春节的习俗和传统有很大差异，但通常每个家庭都会在除夕夜团聚，一起吃年夜饭。为驱厄运、迎好运，家家户户都会进行大扫除。人们还会在门上粘贴红色的对联(couplets)，对联的主题为健康、发财和好运。其他的活动还有放鞭炮、发红包和探亲访友等。
参考答案
Chinese New Year is the most important traditional Chinese holiday. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival. New Year celebrations run from Chinese New Year’s Eve, the last day of the last month of the lunar calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. Customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely from place to place. However, New Year’s Eve is usually an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly clean the house in order to sweep away ill fortune and to bring in good luck. And doors will be decorated with red couplets with themes of health, wealth and good luck. Other activities include lighting firecrackers, giving money in red envelopes, and visiting relatives and friends.
难点精析
1.庆祝活动：译为celebrations即可，考生要注意，不要看到“庆祝活动”就想在celebration的后面加上： ? activities。
2. 有很大差异：译为…vary widely,此句还可以翻译为…are rather different。
3.驱厄运、迎好运：译为sweep away ill fortune and to bring in good luck，此处的“驱”如果考生无法译出： : sweep away，也可以用简单的get rid of 来表达。
4.大扫除：译为thoroughly clean the house。
5.放鞭炮、发红包：译为 lighting firecrackers, giving money in red envelopes。放鞭炮还可以用 set off ' I firecrackers或 fire firecrackers 来表达。
长难句翻译练习：
1. The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.
[参考译文]美国的经济是以基本的私有企业和市场导向经济为架构的，在这种经济中，消费者很大程度上通过在市场上为那些他们最想要的货品和服务付费来决定什么应该被制造出来。
2. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and
the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.
[参考译文]因此，在美国的经济体系中，个体消费者的需求与商人试图最大化其利润的欲望和个人想最大化其收入效用的欲望相结合，一起决定了什么应该被制造，以及资源如何被用来制造它们。
3. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by
seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product.
[参考译文]另一方面，如果大量制造某种商品导致其成本下降，那么这就有可能增加卖方和制造商能提供的供给，而这也就会反过来降低价格并允许更多的消费者购买产品。
4. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.
[参考译文]在美国经济中，私有财产的概念不仅包含对生产资源的所有权，也指其他一些特定的权利，如确定一个产品价格和与另一个私人个体(经济单位)自由签定合同的权利。
5. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employers are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns.
[参考译文]同时这些计算机记录下哪些时间是最忙的，哪些员工工作效率最高，这样就能相应地做出人员人事安排。而且它们(计算机)也能为促销活动找到那些拥有优先权的顾客。
